California: the Facebook page of a Myanmar monk who was labelled as “Buddhist Bin Laden” has been removed for his inflammable posts against Muslims and for spreading hatred against Rohingya Muslims. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed it.
Wirathu, the firebrand Buddhist monk and a prominent face of Myanmar’s Buddhist ultra-nationalist movement was using his Facebook page as a platform to attack Muslims, especially Rohingya Muslims. He had amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on the network.
A Facebook spokesperson said informed, “our community standards prohibit organizations and people dedicated to promoting hatred and violence against others.” “If a person consistently shares content promoting hate, we may take a range of actions such as temporarily suspending their ability to post and ultimately, removal of their account.”
Wirathu’s provocative speeches have been blamed for fueling sectarian violence, which has plagued Myanmar’s transition to democracy.
It must be noted that after Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi came to power in 2016, the government dissolved the Ma Ba Tha group to which Wirathu belonged, one-year speaking ban was imposed on the monk. But the ‘Buddhist Bin Laden’ who once appeared on the cover of Time magazine as the “face of Buddhist terror” remains influential.
Hailing the removal of Wirathu’s Facebook page, Thet Swe Win, a Yangon-based interfaith activist, said Facebook’s move sent a symbolic message about not tolerating hate speech.